As a reader (and keeper of books) one thing I especially like are bookends. I have some standard black wire bookends which do the job of keeping my books from falling over. But, they just do the job, nothing more. I prefer bookends with some drama, some personality and some mystery even. Sometimes I like a romantic style, sometimes architecture catches my eye and I have bookends which are not really bookends but chunks of rock and stone from old buildings.

Whatever bookends attract you they still need to be functional. The purpose of bookends is not to pose fashionable at the end of a row of books. Bookends need to hold up your books, keep them from falling over on bookshelves and then slipping and slopping their way onto the floor. Bookends are great.

I have a lovely bookshelf but... the sides were not designed with the idea of keeping books in place. The sides are left open and my books fall through if I don't use bookends to hold them in place. I also use this for my very small collection of video games and my even smaller collection of movies on DVDs. So, bookends aren't just for books and book readers.

Gargoyles Would Look Great on my Bookshelves

Don't those gargoyles look great. Sitting there, quiet, still and supposedly made of rock with rock for brains too. However, I suspect when you head off to work, school, or whatever it is you do with your day, the gargoyles will read your books. I hope you pick something good for them to read. Change around the books they hold too. You don't want to leave them with nothing new to read.

You don't need to leave your gargoyles milk and cookies, that would be silly. You're just thinking of Santa. But, a well placed bookmark would be a great idea to keep them from turning down pages to mark their place in your book.

Does a dragon count as a gargoyle? I think so. Dragons have been seen on the sides of buildings among the other odder looking gargoyles. I wonder if they all have their books tucked away up there, hidden from public view?

Gargoyle Girl, is/was a site by Gigi Pandian. It's still online but no longer updated.

I'm allergic to animals. If I'm around them (fur bearing animals) I get an allergic reaction and then suffer an asthma attack. I can take anti-histamine and asthma medications, but I'd rather not.

At this point, to be honest, the idea of having animals in the house is gross to me. My Grandmother felt the same way - she lived in a one room house (over 80 years ago) and had to share it with the farm animals in winter.

This doesn't mean I don't like animals. I do like most of them, just not enough to want them as pets.

What's your style of fake pet?

Instead, I'm interested in virtual pets, digital pets, artificial pets and assorted other pretend pets who are low maintenance and inexpensive. Tamagotchi, robot pets, Virtual Petz, vintage pet rocks, and others in that theme and genre. Do you remember Fur Real Friends, doesn't seem that long ago they were the new thing and yet I haven't heard them promoted for years. They were cute, and mechanically inclined.

Do you know where your pet rock is?

I did have a pet rock, long ago when they were the fad. I don't think mine was an official pet rock. Mom did buy one with the whole kit, the box and all. But, some how all four of us had a pet rock but there was only one box. She did wash them all first, she was fairly clever that way.

Do you like online virtual pet games?

I've played with several of the online game type of virtual pets. The interest wears off after awhile. Most of the sites push you for money. You can't feel you really have a pet you want to keep around if you keep getting badgered to spend more money on something that doesn't really exist.

The virtual pet I'd pick is a robotic cat.

Something sort of cute, sort of pretty but not in the made for children way. A cat that could double as an attack cat would be fun and a great conversation starter too.

Really, a robotic dragon, but... they don't seem to exist yet.

Originally posted to Squidoo. The Amazon link and image are gone.

Why settle for an average, mundane jewellery box when you could have a Celtic designed jewel box with a dragon guarding your hoard. Of course, there is the slight problem of the dragon not wanting to let you into the box either. But, you know they will be well guarded. Isn't that worth a few scorch marks?

Before you bring home your dragon check for likely places to set one down in your home. Dragons take up space, but they also love to be featured where they can preen and make sure everyone sees them in their best light, on their best side. A dragon jewellery box will be set off nicely on a tall dresser - not too near a window lest the dragon get ideas and fly off with your hoard of jewels.

Also, keep your dragon box free of clutter. They do tend to eat the oddest things and they never give anything back once they get a good grip on it.

It is very trusting of you to let a dragon guard your jewels, actually. Not just the whole sharp teeth, claws and fire breath thing... but you do know they will think they look better in your jewels than you do yourself?

Overall though, a dragon jewellery box is a pretty fancy thing. Not many people will own one. (For all kinds of reasons).

If you are thinking of a great gift for a Pagan, fantasy gamer or other such person - a jewellery box with a dragon decorating it is a good choice. It is a gift which is both attractive, practical and unique. Unless someone just doesn't like dragons, it is nearly the perfect gift.

More than one dragon in your home?

Handy if your hoard expands and you need a few more dragons. Although, wasn't one dragon in your home enough? They do tend to take up quite a lot of room, eat a lot of chocolate and expect they can light up and smoke whenever or wherever they choose.

If it is possible that the Loch Ness Monster may have been one of the last remaining members of an extinct species then the same could be true for the dragon. How else could one explain the remarkable similarity between ancient depictions of dragons and some long-extinct dinosaurs? Well actually, the widely recognized medieval image of the dragon may have evolved from the original serpentine dragon after dinosaur remains were accidentally uncovered in classical Mesopotamia. In ancient Greece, Rome and the Celtic world dragon iconography was much more like that of China. Europe did not convert to the modern, metric dragon until much later on.

But does this alteration of dragon iconography help us determine the origin of the myth? Not really. The dragon, albeit in a more serpentine form, features in the folklore of almost every culture around the world and is synonymous with power, strength, wisdom and often brutality. The ancient civilizations of Central America even worshiped flying serpent gods, going so far as to make blood sacrifices in their honour. The serpent cults of Eastern Europe and Central Asia may once have done the same for their own dragon icons too. Clearly this reptilian obsession is as old as mankind itself.

But does this mean that dragons are nothing more than a distant memory from our primordial past? The people of medieval Europe and Asia clearly thought otherwise. To them dragons were everywhere, hiding in the cave down the road, burning down churches and eating their children. It was believed that the far off lands of the East were abound with the fire breathing brutes.

Are we to take these stories literally? Many scholars believe that dragons are nothing but a metaphor for evil and pagan ritual, but while this may be true of some Christian folklore there is much evidence to suggest that the monsters these people were so afraid of were not merely ideological in nature.

In the Far East, of course, dragons have entirely different connotations. There they are considered to be creatures of great wisdom and spirituality. They are associated with the elements of water and air, rather than fire. The gods are said to have descended from the sky inside the belly of a dragon. Legend has it that Emperor Huang Ti also ascended to the stars aboard a dragon drawn chariot. This, says UFOlogist Hartwig Hausdorf, is evidence that dragons were not living creatures at all, rather some kind of alien spacecraft.

Originally posted by Mark Ball - 5 Mythical Creatures That Could Exist - Weird Worm